Balat and Fener

Fener and Balat run along the Golden Horn below the fifth and sixth hills, and they were for centuries the Greek and Jewish quarters of the city respectively - Fener gave its name to the Phanariots, the Greek families who supplied Ottoman administration with interpreters and governors, and Balat held one of the oldest Jewish communities in Istanbul. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is still here, a working seat rather than a monument. So is the Bulgarian St Stephen church on the shore, prefabricated in cast iron in Vienna in the 1890s, shipped down the Danube and bolted together on site. Above them the streets climb steeply past the red-brick Phanar Greek Orthodox College, Ottoman houses in various states, the Ahrida and other synagogues, and the row of painted facades on Kiremit Caddesi that Instagram has made the district's calling card. Gentrification has moved fast here, and cafés now outnumber the old workshops.

What you actually see

• The painted houses - the steep lanes of coloured facades.
• The Patriarchate - the working Orthodox seat at Fener.
• St Stephen's - the cast-iron Bulgarian church on the shore.
• The Greek College - the red-brick school on the hill.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Weekday mornings for the quiet lanes; weekends bring crowds to the photogenic streets.

Honest expectations

The hills are steep and the cobbles uneven. Churches and synagogues have restricted hours and some need prior arrangement or ID. The famous coloured houses are a short stretch, and people live in them.

Nearby

Chora Church is up at Edirnekapı; Eyüp is further along the Golden Horn.